Two Get 16 Months In Cuban Smuggling

June 12, 1999|By LUISA YANEZ Miami Bureau

MIAMI — Two men accused of leading a smuggling mission that claimed the lives of 14 Cubans -- the deadliest Cuba-to-Miami smuggling incident in history -- were each sentenced to 16 months in prison in federal court on Friday.

Francisco Gomez, 34, of Kendall, and Pedro Julio Guevara, 32, of Tampa, will then serve up to five years of probation each. Out on bond, the men have 60 days to surrender.

The two men had earlier pleaded guilty to a single count each of conspiracy to smuggle immigrants, and faced up to five years in prison.

"We feel the sentence is fair," said Joaquin Perez, attorney for Gomez. "This was an accident, not a smuggling mission."

The men's attorneys had argued to U.S. District Judge Donald Graham that the defendants were not professional smugglers and had only intended to bring Guevara's wife and son to Miami. The pair said that when they arrived in Anguilla Cay in the Bahamas, a common stop-off point for smugglers, they were surprised to find 19 others who begged them for a ride to Miami.

Guevara and Gomez said they took pity on the group of hungry refugees, and reluctantly allowed them to board Gomez's 29-foot Wellcraft Scarab.

The overloaded boat capsized in rough weather off the coast of Miami, spilling 23 people into the chilly waters on Dec. 17, 1998. Guevara's wife was among eight women who drowned, trapped in the boat's cabin. Six others were never found.

Guevara's son survived, along with Guevara, Gomez and six others who clung to the overturned hull through the night.

On the courthouse steps on Friday, a teary-eyed Gomez told reporters: "I think it's enough for what we did."

But at the sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Silverstein said the men were driven by greed. She asked them whether they had collected $13,000 from the group of refugees to ferry them to Miami. They both responded no.